Lab 07: Basic Circuit and Divider Rules

Objective

Become familiar with and organize Circuit Kit for the semester.
Become familiar with a breadboard with the lab power supply and review the measurement of voltage, current, and resistance using a Digital Multimeter (DMM).

Equipment

Breadboard
Digital Multimeter (DMM)
Power Supply

Background

Serial Circuit

01 SeriesCircuit

The equivalent series resistance is the sum of the individual resistances: ${R_{series}} = \sum {{R_n}}$

Key properties of a series circuit are:

the current through all components is the same.
the voltages across all components must be added up to the source voltage, according to :
$\sum {{V_n} = 0\; \Rightarrow \;{V_{source}} = {V_1} + {V_2} + {V_3}}$

Parallel Circuit

02 ParallelCircuit

The equivalent parallel resistance is given by: $\frac{1}{{{R_{parallel}}}} = \sum {\frac{1}{{{R_n}}}}$

Key properties of a parallel circuit are:

the voltage across all components is the same.
the current through all components must add up to the source current, according to :
$\sum {{I_n} = 0\quad \Rightarrow \quad } {I_{source}} = {I_1} + {I_2} + {I_3}$

$\% Difference = \% diff = \frac{{\left| {Valu{e_1} - Valu{e_2}} \right|}}{{\left( {\frac{{Valu{e_1} + Valu{e_2}}}{2}} \right)}} \times 100\%$

Procedure

Exp #1: Connection Pattern of the Breadboard

Exp #2: Basic Series Measurements

Exp #3: Basic Parallel Measurements

Questions

Challenge: Series and Parallel Combination Circuits